serene

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /səˈɹiːn/
• (US) IPA^(key): /səˈɹin/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːn

Etymology 1

From Middle English, borrowed from Latin serēnus (“clear, cloudless, untroubled”).

Adjective

serene (comparative more serene or serener, superlative most serene or serenest)

1. Calm, peaceful, unruffled.

   She looked at her students with joviality and a serene mentality.

   • 1910, Emerson Hough, “A Lady in Company”, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 6:

     Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes. The clear light of the bright autumn morning had no terrors for youth and health like hers.

2. Without worry or anxiety; unaffected by disturbance.
   • (Can we date this quote by Andy Adams, Reed Anthony, Cowman and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     I took train and reached Wichita, where my active partner was awaiting me. He had just returned from the Medicine River, and reported everything serene.

3. (archaic) Fair and unclouded (as of the sky); clear; unobscured.
   • 1717, Alexander Pope, “Winter. The Fourth Pastoral. ”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: W Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, , →OCLC, page 30:

     Now ſleeping flocks on their ſoft fleeces lie, / The moon, ſerene in glory, mounts the sky, […]

   • 1750 June 12 (date written; published 1751), T[homas] Gray, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”, in Designs by Mr. R Bentley, for Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray, London: R Dodsley, , published 1753, →OCLC, page 32:

     Full many a gem of pureſt ray ſerene / The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear: […]

   • 1818, [Mary Shelley], chapter VI, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. , volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, →OCLC:

     A serene sky and verdant fields filled me with ecstasy.

4. Used as part of certain titles, originally to indicate sovereignty or independence.

   Her Serene Highness

Derived terms

• all serene
• drop serene
• sereneness
• serenity

Translations

Verb

serene (third-person singular simple present serenes, present participle serening, simple past and past participle serened)

1. (transitive) To make serene.
   • 1708, [John Philips], “Book II”, in Cyder. , London: J Tonson, , →OCLC, page 68:

     The Hoary Froſts, and Northern Blaſts take care / Thy muddy Bev'rage to ſerene, and drive / Præcipitant the baſer, ropy Lees.

   • 1728, James Thomson, “Spring”, in The Seasons, London: A Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, , published 1768, →OCLC, page 34, lines 866–867:

     When heaven and earth, as if contending, vye / To raiſe his being, and ſerene his ſoul.

Noun

serene (plural serenes)

1. (poetic) Serenity; clearness; calmness.
   • 1801, Robert Southey, “(please specify the page)”, in Thalaba the Destroyer, volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: or T N Longman and O Rees, , by Biggs and Cottle, , →OCLC:

     the serene of heaven

   • 1742, Edward Young, Night Thoughts on Life, Death and Immortality:

     To their master is denied / To share their sweet serene.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Middle French serein, from Old French serein (“evening”), from Vulgar Latin *serānum, from substantive use of sērum, neuter of sērus (“late”) + -ānus suffix.

Noun

serene (plural serenes)

2. A fine rain from a cloudless sky after sunset.
   • 1605 (first performance), Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Volpone, or The Foxe. A Comœdie. ”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (First Folio), London: Will Stansby, published 1616, →OCLC:

     Some serene blast me.

Alternative forms

• serein
• serena (obsolete)

References

• Oxford English Dictionary. serein n. 1.

Anagrams

• reseen, resene

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

serene

1. inflection of sereen:
   1. masculine/feminine singular attributive
   2. definite neuter singular attributive
   3. plural attributive

Esperanto

Etymology

serena +‎ -e

Adverb

serene

1. calmly, serenely

Italian

Adjective

serene

1. feminine plural of sereno

Latin

Etymology 1

From serēnus +‎ -ē.

Adverb

serēnē (comparative serēnius, superlative serēnissimē)

1. clearly, brightly

Etymology 2

Adjective

serēne

1. vocative masculine singular of serēnus

References

• “serene”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Portuguese

Verb

serene

1. inflection of serenar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Spanish

Verb

serene

1. inflection of serenar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Swedish

Adjective

serene

1. definite natural masculine singular of seren